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bubbie0648
bubbie0648
Inspiring
August 22, 2016
Question

Clear HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Adobe\Acrobat Distiller\PrinterJobControl Key of Excessive PDF Listings

  • August 22, 2016
  • 1 reply
  • 11617 views

I'm submitting this query because there is no available  help in the Acrobat DC Pro Chat Room.

I'm a retired librarian and I make PDF files using Acrobat DC Pro from newspaper and magazine articles I find on the web (Internet) on a variety of topics. I just tell the PC to use the "Adobe PDF Printer" to create the PDF files. The "Adobe PDF Printer" is actually using "Acrobat Distiller" to create the PDF files.The PDF files get saved to my Windows 8.1 's 2nd Hard Drive  (Drive D:\), and as time permits, I burn the files on certain topics to a DVD disk using Roxio software, and then delete the PDF files I've burned to Disc from the PC.

I noticed The Windows Registry lists over 570 PDF files successfully created by the "Adobe PDF Printer "("Acrobat Distiller") in a particular Registry Key. The files are listed at the following Windows 8.1 Key:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Adobe\Acrobat Distiller\PrinterJobControl.

I've notice that some of these PDF files were listed as being in their original location, even though I know that I've moved them to another location (Folder) on the Hard Drive, and some no longer exist on my hard drive as I've deleted them after burning the files to a DVD.

How can I delete these PDF file listings without corrupting my Windows 8.1 Registry?. I'm concerned about Registry Bloat. I've also noticed PDF listings in the same key on my husband's PC which is running Adobe Acrobat 10 Pro.

To avoid adding more PDF file listings, to the HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Adobe\Acrobat Distiller\PrinterJobControl Key, I've resorted to using the "Scansoft PDF Printer" from Omnipage Ultimate, which leaves no crumbs behind in the Windows 8.1 Registry. (Note that I've checked the Registry key for HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Scansoft\Pdf Create 8.0). However, the PDF file size that I end up getting using the "Scansoft PDF Printer" is less compressed because the "Scansoft PDF Printer" uses the "PDF Create 8.0 which is compatible with the Acrobat  Distiller v. 7.1, and I'm forced to "Reduce the File Size" and "Optimize" the PDF files to get them to a smaller size, and they are not as compressed as when using the "Adobe PDF Printer ("Acrobat Distiller).

I do not understand why Acrobat DC and older versions keep a record of Distiller's successful jobs in the Windows Registry. If I create a PDF by scanning directly into Acrobat DC Pro, there are no listings in the above key for PDF files created just by scanning.

Thank you for all your help

Miriam Klepper

This topic has been closed for replies.

1 reply

T
Test Screen Name
Legend
August 22, 2016

See Clear Print Jobs in Windows Registry in Acrobat Distiller\PrinterJob Control where a similar discussion has proceeded at length, including an Adobe reply that it is working as designed, and my advice to ignore it.

bubbie0648
bubbie0648Author
Inspiring
August 23, 2016

I was the one who started that discussion at the Printing Forum you referenced, since I didn't know exactly where to pose my query on "Clear HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Adobe\Acrobat Distiller\PrinterJobControl Key of Excessive PDF Listings."

Use of the Adobe PDF Printer ("Adobe Distiller), meant that the PDF file being generated, was being created via printing. Yet it also meant that a PDF file was being created.

Since I didn't get an answer by an Adobe expert on the Printing Forum, on why everytime I create a PDF file from the web, that the Windows Registry has to keep a record of  the successful creation of that PDF under Acrobat Distiller's subkey "PrinterJobControl issue  I posted to this forum as well.

So is "Test Screen Names'" advice also to ignore the huge number of PDF files being cited under the above Registry key, or should I  periodically uninstall Acrobat DC Pro thoroughly with RevoUninstaller (which takes out all the Adobe Registry keys it has logged) and reinstall Acrobat DC?

Doing so, would involve countless hours with the Adobe Chat Room trying to convince Adobe that I had not exceeded my 2 PC software license and needed to reactivate the Acrobat DC Pro software, since there is no Option within the Help Menu to Deactivate Acrobat DC Pro before uninstalling it. On the other hand, if I use the Adobe Cleaner tool, all my other Adobe applications (Photoshop CS6, InDesign CS6, Lightroom 5.71 and Elements 14) will be removed from my PC, which I obviously don't want to do..

I don't see what purpose Adobe has for leaving a crumb in the above Registry key after a PDF file has been successfully created. In the few times when Acrobat can't succesfully create a PDF file, it generates a log file, which can be easily deleted from the hard drive, and then one can try again to create the PDF file.

Being that everything is online these days, particularly all my Adobe software's Activations, and Adobe's servers know what is running on my PC, is is possible that Adobe is keeping track of how many times I use Distiller to create a PDF file from a Web Article via Firefox or Internet Explorer? Just before I purchased Acrobat DC Pro, I suddenly noticed that I could not create a PDF from the Web using Acrobat 11 Pro's Adobe PDF Printer, as the Firefox and Internet Explorer Adobe PDF Plugins had expired. I had to use Omnipage Ultimate's "Scansoft PDF Printer" to create a PDF as it did not rely on the expired plugin. Acrobat 11 Pro worked perfectly otherwise, and I was annoyed that had to spend $149.99 to upgrade to Acrobat DC Pro. I hate the interface which is hard to see, I hate the changes Adobe did to it. It is certainly not as user friendly as Adobe Acrobat 11 Pro, Adobe Acrobat 10 Pro, and Adobe Acrobat 9 Pro, all of which I loved. I like having a choice of interface from light to dark, and prefer a darker interface, which makes the text on the screen easier to read for a person who wears bifocals.

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